Born from the founder’s own personal need, Our Community Pantry is a community-based Food Rescue project that diverts edible food, household items, fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, meat and bakery items destined for landfill and makes it available and affordable for its members.
Non-denominational with no Health Care Card required, the vision for Our Community Pantry is that no Australian child will suffer the physical and emotional scars stemming from witnessing their parents struggle to put food on the table.
Founder, Paula Zrilic, in late 2014 found herself in a situation where her own life turned upside down and she was left to rebuild a safe home for her children on her own. With no family support and trying to maintain a ‘normal’ life for her children, she found herself at a Food Support Agency to try and offer her youngest daughter a birthday party with her friends at her new school. Finances prevented her daughter from continuing at the same school so it was important to Paula that she be able to have a birthday party for her daughter so she could establish and cultivate friendships at her new school. A simple birthday party was tough when the pantry was empty and feeding her own children was a challenge, yet alone being able to offer the few added extra items you would expect at a child’s birthday party. Chips, lollies, and sweets at that time were an unaffordable luxury.
Turned away initially because she did not have a Health Care Card (ironically because she was employed and receiving an income), then told that there were others more deserving than herself, Paula waited in the queue and observed the soul-breaking and shameful process of receiving food support as a recipient.
Not being able to select any food items but given a box of six random food items (that she was only eligible for once a month) was difficult. Seeing that all of those 6 items contained gluten when she has a gluten-intolerant child was not a good sign.
When she asked if she could swap one item of pasta for rice so that her middle child, who suffers with Coeliac Disease, could share the same meal with her family, she was told to “be grateful for what you get and go home and sort out your picky eater.”
That was the moment of absolutely no hope and complete despair, when a mother could not receive help to feed her own child. That was also the moment that Our Community Pantry was born.
Turning her own personal crisis into an opportunity, and later her purpose-driven career, Paula vowed herself at that moment that when they rebuild, she wanted to create something that meant no mother would have to stay in an unsafe environment for fear of how she would feed her children if she left. That no parent should ever have to be turned away from being able to feed their children because they were not deemed “deserving.” That nobody whose life has turned upside down (which in a heartbeat could happen to anybody) should be made to feel the shame she felt that day, nobody should be left contemplating their own life because they could not receive support with humanity and dignity. No eligibility tick for a Health Care Card should be the reason that a family is told they are “not worthy” of support when they most need it.
Several very important observations or insights were taken from the experience of rebuilding and recovery for Paula.
The first is the amount of food that in Australia ends up in our landfills. About one-third of all food produced for human consumption around the world goes to waste. Australia discards over 5 million tonnes of food, every year. That is enough to fill 9,000 Olympic sized swimming pools.
The second insight for Paula was her introduction to the term “Food Insecurity,” something she was experiencing without realising it actually had a name. Food insecurity is the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
There are three different "levels" of food security:
· Secure;
· Insecure but without hunger - where there may be anxiety or uncertainty about access to food or inappropriate use of food (i.e., poor nutritional quality) but regular consumption of food occurs; and
· Insecure with extreme hunger - where meals are often missed or inadequate (Burns, 2004).
A family can have two incomes coming in, paying off a mortgage or rent, sending children to school etc. and still be experiencing food insecurity. Food insecurity in not one of those conditions we associate with those living “on” the streets, food insecurity happens quietly, and with shame, “in” our very own street.
It our “lucky country” more than one in five Australians (21%) fun out of food and are unable to buy more. This is equivalent to five million Australians. (Foodbank Hunger Report, 2019)
Our Community Pantry has stemmed from Paula’s own personal crisis and has now become her vision to create a solution that brings food insecurity and food waste together in a new way to distribute food.
Our Community Pantry is Paula’s solution, her place that allows all to feel better for coming, not worse for being there, her hand-up and not a hand-out approach to solving two very significant problems we face in our community and our environment.
In May 2020, two and half years later, OCP now supports over 4,000 families across Camden, Macarthur, Wollondilly, Wingecarribee and the Goulburn regions. OCP offers $6 Bundles, $6 & $10 Family meals as well as their $50 Hampers.
Our Community Pantry is Paula’s passion and her way of making a difference and allowing her story to matter.
View recent media coverage with Georgie Gardner on Channel 9’s Today morning show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kEw2kv9vqw
Check out just what is involved in our outreach program, this was shot in Goulburn May 2020.
https://mediazilla.com/hr19LwuTjD
